So the first weekend in October we went to the same B&B that we went to last year. This time we went with our good friends Gary and Jennie. Also staying at the B&B was this family. This is Lexy, the oldest, she is 10. It was so great to hear their story and to get to know them a bit over the weekend.
the face paint: It was the "Pecan Festival" in this tiny little town called Brunswick and so they were getting ready for the parade and festivities.
This is their story. Here is mom, she is an artist. Her husband is a painter and carpenter. They moved to Brunswick MO from Washington state to in a way, "live off the grid". They moved with their SEVEN children, all under 10.
Here are their lovely, and so friendly, five girls. The youngest two are boys (2 or 3 and then 2 months)
They purchased 5 acres of land from the innkeepers of the B&B and they plan to build a 1200 sq ft straw bale home on that five acres and basically live sustainably off the land. We went down to the building site and they explained their plans for this fun little experiment. The home will be built out of straw bales and then stuccoed, with adobe floors. They will have a loft up above where the entire family will sleep. There wont be any rooms, just corners designated for kitchen and restroom and so forth. One wood burning stove in the middle, an extensive compost system, rain water from the metal roof, along with some sort of other water system, a root cellar only feet from the home to store produce, a little sun room in the front for growing the produce, and lots and lots of land to raise chickens, a milk cow and cattle, a sheep, and other livestock for life in their humble home. They also have a giant pecan tree right next door.
I asked the kids what they thought about moving from the city to a small town (to live like pioneers really) and they replied that their yard was SO SMALL in washington and they were just excited to have all that land to play and roam. It was so sweet! AND they'll have that amazing milky way to stare out at every night.
We were very inspired by the family. Their love for one another, the way the children helped the other children and how well they all played together. We were inspired by the way they sought a simple life of just living and loving the Lord. It was great to see how they jumped right into engaging the community as well, the mother set up a booth at the festival to paint faces for donations only and I'm sure it won't take long for the whole town to get to know them.
Gary and Jennie. We are all mingling at Kaitlynn's ice cream shop (the daughter of the B&B owners)
We were total strangers and all they wanted to do was sit on our laps and play with us. All of the children were *such a joy* to be around.
(I let his older sister go around and take pictures, and he kept wanting to play with the camera too :)
After Kaitlynns, we went over to play Bingo. I was resistant at first because, well I don't like pointless games, but they made me play and it turned out to be a lot of fun.
Jonathan reading to the kids. Shiloh (the one standing in her pink coat) would listen and listen to Jonathan read and then when he finished and thought "she is probably tired of me reading to her" she looked up at him with her big blue eyes and said "will you read me another??" It was SO cute.
Well now comes the time to share about our gun adventures. I was a little hesitant to post these cause we aren't gun people and frankly, I don't like them, BUT what else is there to do in the country on a lazy saturday morning? This too, like bingo, turned out to be more fun than I expected.
Gary taught Jonathan to shoot, so we shot at targets which was the most fun for me. They mostly shot at clay pigeons.
I know this will make my gun-loving, (Romney-loving) father very proud. :)
Jennie was the expert clay pigeon thrower. Both Gary and Jonathan hit lots of clay pigeons, I was surprised at Jonathan's skill!!
I think he felt his manliness meter go up a bit that day :)
I however entered the Pecan Pie Contest for the festival and found out later my pie was auctioned off for $75! That was pretty cool. Mine is there, #37...
Well, we will miss our friends in Brunswick but we will definitely be back next year! Thanks for all the hospitality and such a great time!!
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